Posts Tagged ‘Karate Nationals’

Two weeks ago, Katie Whipple won the Silver Medal in the non-handicap division of beginner women’s kate at the Karate National Championships. Whipple is a 33 year old woman from Dunlap, Tennessee who is legally blind. Sensei Corey Green began teaching Whipple just 7 months ago. She is not the first person with special needs to train with Green, nor is she the first of his students to make karate history. But, she is the first blind person to qualify and then win 2nd place in traditional karate at the national level. For more about the work of Sensei Green, click here.

Green’s Karate is the largest and only full-time Traditional Karate school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sensei Corey Green, owner of Green’s Karate has been working with children with special needs since 1997. In 2007, Green’s Karate trained the first student with Autism to qualify for the Karate Nationals in the non-handicap division. CNN covered the story:

About Green’s Karate

As one of the finest martial arts school in the U.S., Green’s Karate innovative teaching

methods are revolutionary in the martial arts realm. Sensei Green’s methods for special

needs are research based and proven to work Sensei Green’s methods are known

as “Green Methods” to describe his umbrella of a variety of approaches to teach students

that have special needs, karate. Sensei Green teaches students with and

without special needs.

Sensei Green also works with Lee University’s Development Inclusion Classroom, a program focusing on treating children with autism. The research with L.U.D.I.C. is approved by the Institutional Review Board for testing on human subjects and focuses on Green’s work with teaching karate to children with autism who are low to moderately functioning. Green offers other karate teachers the opportunity to learn his “Green Methods” for teaching students with disabilities.

Another pioneering program, Lee University Developmental Inclusion Classroom (LUDIC), enabled university students to partner with local school districts to serve 23 young area students with autism-spectrum disorders. Last year, 160 Lee students served 4,182 hours at LUDIC, assisting with activities and services such as an autism camp, educational planning, and family support services.